Some 14,000 accommodation places opened during the health crisis will be made sustainable, including 7,000 by the end of the year, Housing Minister Emmanuelle Wargon announced Thursday to associations helping the homeless.
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The government will " perpetuate 14,000 accommodation places in two installments ", including 7,000 by the end of the year, financed from the 2020 budget, and 7,000 in 2021, explained the minister during a press conference . These 14,000 places correspond to those open under the " winter plan " during the winter break, which ended exceptionally on July 10 with the end of the state of health emergency, and after two extensions due to the coronavirus epidemic.
166,000 places all year round
They bring the total number of permanent places throughout the year to 166,000. The minister affirmed that the government had kept its commitment not to proceed with any closure of accommodation places, or rental eviction, at the end of the winter break, without alternative accommodation.
During confinement, “ we have mobilized 34,000 additional places in accommodation. We were at 186,000 places on May 11 (date of the start of deconfinement, editor's note), we are still at 180,000 places today. The places we closed is because we had found a solution, ”she said.
Emmanuelle Wargon also announced a budget of 10 million euros additional over two years to " intensify the improvement of the quality of humanization of accommodation centers ", some of which are " extremely dilapidated ". The improvement will include the creation of individual rooms in place of dormitories, where overcrowding generates violence and scares the homeless.
In addition, while wearing a mask outside has become compulsory in many cities, the minister recalled the delivery of “ 50 million masks ” to associations so that they distribute them to the most vulnerable.
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